The novel starts out with an unnamed man who is wandering the streets of Halifax. As it turns out, this is Neil Macrae, returned home from the War. He had grown up in the city, living with his uncle's family, the Wains, all of whom despised him, except for his cousin Penny. When Neil went overseas, he was assigned to the regiment under his Uncle Geoffrey's command. An attack rashly planned by Col. Wain went disastrously wrong, and many men were killed. Wain blamed the debacle on Neil, saying that he disobeyed a direct order. He had his nephew arrested and charged with cowardice. Before he could be court-martialed, however, the dugout in which he was imprisoned was shelled. After the battle, he was found badly injured, unconscious, and lacking any ID. Hospitalized in England, and temporarily suffering from amnesia, Neil was mistakenly identified as an English soldier. He eventually regained his memory, but retained his new identity, since he would be arrested again if anyone knew who he really was. Left with a limp from his injuries, and suffering from shell shock, he was released from military service. He has returned to Nova Scotia to look for Alex Mackenzie, the corporal who had brought him the orders from Geoffrey during the battle, and had taken back his reply. He is the only man who can prove that Neil's uncle is lying, and clear his name.
Barometer Rising is the 1941 novel by Hugh MacLennan which is set during the horrors of World War I and the Halifax Explosion. It takes place in 1917 Halifax, though some of the past events which influence the conflicts and issues that drive the plot occurred overseas in France, and also in Montreal. The novel takes place over the span of one week in December of that year- the week in which the Halifax Explosion occurred. The novel starts out with an unnamed man who is wandering the streets of Halifax. As it turns out, this is Neil Macrae, returned home from the War. He had grown up in the city, living with his uncle's family, the Wains, all of whom despised him, except for his cousin Penny. When Neil went overseas, he was assigned to the regiment under his Uncle Geoffrey's command. An attack rashly planned by Col. Wain went disastrously wrong, and many men were killed. Wain blamed the debacle on Neil, saying that he disobeyed a direct order. He had his nephew arrested and charged with cowardice. Before he could be court-martialed, however, the dugout in which he was imprisoned was shelled. After the battle, he was found badly injured, unconscious, and lacking any ID. Hospitalized in England, and temporarily suffering from amnesia, Neil was mistakenly identified as an English soldier. He eventually regained his memory, but retained his new identity, since he would be arrested again if anyone knew who he really was. Left with a limp from his injuries, and suffering from shell shock, he was released from military service. He has returned to Nova Scotia to look for Alex Mackenzie, the corporal who had brought him the orders from Geoffrey during the battle, and had taken back his reply. He is the only man who can prove that Neil's uncle is lying, and clear his name. Meanwhile, Penny Wain is living in the Wain mansion with her father and younger brother Roddie, who is still in school. The war has given her the opportunity to become a successful ship designer, and her design for a ship which will be better able to avoid submarine attacks has just been accepted for development. Despite her success in her career, Penny is unhappy. For one thing, despite pinning the blame on Neil, her father was reassigned after the disaster in France, given the lesser post of transportation officer in Halifax. He bitterly resents this setback in his career, and is angling for a return to command overseas. His resentment causes him to hate the memory of Neil even more, and he can't forgive his daughter for having been in love with him. This is something else which comes out gradually; Penny and Neil had fallen in love before he went to war. Just before he is deployed, Neil goes to visit Penny in Montreal where she is studying. They end up sleeping together, and then Neil leaves, not knowing that Penny is pregnant. She doesn't write to tell him, not wanting to give him something else to worry about, and then news comes of his death. She is aware that some sort of scandal was involved, but no one will tell her exactly what happened. Meanwhile, facing the disgrace that unwed motherhood would cause in 1915, Penny's pregnancy is kept a secret, and the baby- a little girl named Jean- is adopted by the only relatives she can stand: her Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim, whom she had been staying with in Montreal. They have since moved back to Halifax so that Penny can be close to Jean. Believing Neil to be dead, Penny is considering marrying Angus Murray, the doctor from her father's regiment. Murray is now out of the army, having had his arm badly wounded, and is rather at loose ends, not yet healed enough to resume his medical career. Penny's father and stuffy Aunt Maria and Uncle Alfred don't approve of this connection, as Murray is considerably older than her and considered a failure. This is because after his wife died many years before, he developed a drinking problem which kept him from becoming as successful as he should have been, considering his skill as a surgeon. He is better now, though he still occasionally overindulges in times of stress. Penny considers him her best friend; he's easy to talk to, and well aware of his own failings, is not inclined to be judgmental about others. He knows that Penny was in love with Neil, and she eventually confides to him about Jean's existence. Though at first shocked, he doesn't think badly of her, and after meeting Jean, asks Penny to marry him. Penny is seriously considering doing so; she is lonely and unhappy, and enjoys Angus' companionship. On the other hand, she is haunted by thoughts of Neil, unable to have a sense of closure because she doesn't know exactly what happened to him. And then there's Jean to always remind her of him. Even her celebrated ship design keeps Neil's memory in her mind, because it was originally his idea, idly thought up on a lazy afternoon they had spent together before the war, when he was studying engineering. After his supposed death, Penny remembered his idea and put it down on paper, using her skill as a designer to develop it fully. While she is mulling over Angus' proposal, Penny is shocked when, walking along the street in Halifax, she looks up to see Neil going by in a streetcar. She attempts to follow but loses him, and then returns home to confront her father, demanding to know exactly what happened in France, and telling him that she has seen Neil. Having believed Neil to be dead, Geoffrey Wain is none too pleased to learn that he is still alive and back in Halifax. He has just been offered a promotion to a command position in Europe, and if Neil exposes what actually happened in France, and how his uncle lied about it, his career will be over. He meets with Angus Murray and tells him that, if he tracks down Neil and convinces him to go to the States and never return, he will no longer oppose his marrying Penny. He assumes that Murray will be as eager to have Neil gone as he is. Angus, however, despite his flaws is an honourable man. While not particularly happy to have his rival back from the dead, he has no desire to act on Wain's behalf, threatening Neil with arrest and a desertion charge if he doesn't leave the country. He realizes too, that Geoffrey is afraid to have Neil back, and that there must be something Wain is trying to cover up. He bluntly asks his prospective father-in-law what actually happened in France, enraging the man. As it turns out, there is no need for anyone to track down Neil. Giving in to his desire to see Penny, he goes to the Wain house on the evening of December 5th, knowing that Geoffrey isn't home. Their reunion is tentative and a bit awkward, especially when Murray turns up, and Penny finds herself introducing her former lover to her present suitor. The two men, however, as they discuss Neil's trouble, discover- reluctantly- that they like each other. Neil reveals that he has been trying to track down Alex Mackenzie, and has found out that he is employed by Geoffrey Wain at the Wain shipyard, as Geoffrey wanted to keep the man quiet and close by, so gave him a good and lucrative position. Neil leaves, determined to find Mackenzie's home, and Angus leaves soon afterwards, bitterly aware that, though nothing has been said,he has lost Penny. Penny, meanwhile, is conflicted... she hasn't yet told Neil about their daughter and doesn't know how to, or even if she should, given the current situation. It seems that, however it plays out, things are going to end badly. On the morning of Dec. 6, Penny goes to her office on the waterfront. Neil and Angus both find themselves at Alex Mackenzie's house. Despite being reliant on Wain for his employment, Mackenzie is an honest man and tells the truth about what happened in France: Geoffrey's orders were responsible for the disaster which occurred. Meanwhile, all around them the city of Halifax is waking up and starting its day... and then the Halifax Explosion occurs. Suddenly, every single person's life is completely torn apart. In the ensuing nightmare of death and destruction, issues and conflicts which once seemed vitally important- even the war- pale in comparison with the need to stay alive, and to save others from dying. The city has been torn apart to its very foundations, and nothing and no one will ever be the same. Related Posts:
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